Archive for January, 2011

How to be Smarter: We all know how embarrassing it feels to make a big statement about our future to our friends and family, and then have what we were hoping for fall through. So when the same thing happens to someone you love–they made a grand plan for their future, shared it with everyone, and then things didn’t work out–show them compassion, remind them reorganizing a dream isn’t failure, and keep being their biggest cheerleader.

How to be (less) Awkward: Everyone once in a while, I think it’s fun to send a scrambled text to a signficant other or a crush asking them to unscramble the letters, i.e. “Unscramble please: w?dnthhcaaoig”. A playful text can break up a boring work day or a long afternoon for them, as well as show off your fun side.

How to be Smarter: Even if you are getting accolades from others, you are not truly winning (in athletics, exams, or the rat race) if you spend the whole time wishing you were quitting.

How to be Prettier: If you go clothes shopping and accidentally buy too many things, when you get home put most of the bags away. Then each week, you can choose one or two items that you bought to take out and wear, but the rest have to stay put away. By metering out when you get the new clothes, the rush of shopping stays with you longer (bonus: you also usually become more skilled at integrating items into your wardrobe–instead of putting all the pieces you bought together as just one new outfit, you are forced to think outside the box to wear the new pieces with your old ones).

How to be (less) Awkward: During a manicure, once the nail technician starts applying polish, you won’t be able to use your hands. So before she starts applying polish, turn to a really big article in the magazine you are reading so you have something to read the whole time without needing to flip the page with wet nails.

How to be Smarter: Feeling better is a snowball. Sometimes, when the day is going bad it helps to just say, ‘what can I do in five minutes that will make me feel the tinest bit better?’ After you spend five minutes working to feel better, springboard off that good feeling, and spend the next five minutes again working to feel just a tinge better. Building on incremental levels of happiness helps big positive changes come.

How to be Smarter: When a pen stops writing, you have two options: throw it out, or scribble it around on the paper until the ink appears again. When something stops working, whether it’s a job, your academic major, or a relationship, you have a choice whether to move on or to try hard to make the broken item fixed. But like a pen that has been scribbled back to life, a job/college major/relationship that has stopped meeting your needs before will probably stop meeting them again, no matter how hard you frantically scribble to bring it back to life.

How to be Prettier: A fun Valentines Day gift for a girlfriend to hold her jewelry in (and you can feel good about the sustainable nonprofit your purchase is supporting).